@manduhluv i believe 9am Tuesday PT
Sorry to post again, but do we have to accept admission before we get the password to signup for housing?
@Mayzie Nope, you just have to pay $45, non-refundable fee.
@manduhluv @Bizziee We’re not getting the sign-in info emailed to us, because USC has some technical issues preventing upload of freshman info. You’ll need to register on the housing site itself at 9 am PDT.
does anyone know if there’s a Facebook group for finding roommates?
@manduhluv Go to your you.usc.edu portal and on the bottom you should see a fb mark; click on that and you will be directed to the official admits page. Scroll down a bit and you’ll find a roommate page.
New/North has historically been the loudest freshman dorm, mostly because there’s so many people there.
Both Parksides are pretty much the same, unless they’re renovated in the last year or two?
In my opinion, Birnkrant, Fluor, and Webb are the best dorms. I got to live in Webb as a junior and it was easily the best dorm experience I have seen on campus. There’s a kitchen!
I’ve heard mixed reviews about special interest communities. Seems like most of them end up not doing much after the first week or two.
are there any other social dorms besides new/north?
Here’s a great post from another area on this site:
jtruongjtruong
04-11-2011 at 1:08 pm
Birnkrant: the most desirable dorm. Everyone that lives in BK is super close and bonds well. All around a good mix between people who go greek and people who are social but not associated. Nicknamed: “8 floors of open doors”. Very friendly and you meet a lot of people, you can study in BK, whether it be study rooms or your room. Great view of the Quad for certain rooms. Floors are co-ed
New/North: Mainly Greek. It kind of depends on your luck with the year that you’re living here, certain floors every year are THE floor. Overall, new/north is a good place to live. Most of the partying is done off campus, so you don’t exactly have to worry about the “partying” that goes on in the dorms. Stays up/active pretty late into the night (1am-2am). Contrary to popular stereotype, you CAN study in New/North depending on what time of day you like to study and your study habits. Floors are co-ed and divided by wings. New/North is connected in the middle by rooms. A big giant H that you can’t run around.
Pardee: Probably the 3rd most desirable dorm on this side of campus (near the quad). Floors are single sex and it alternates between odds are males, evens are females. You can get really close to your floor. Heard nothing but good things from the people who live there and love it. Its very easy to meet people from different floors by riding the elevator.
Marks Hall/Trojan Hall: the Honors Hall. Not quite sure what honors hall even means. Sick Lounge with a pool table and nice furniture. By far the best lounge i’ve seen. Floors are single sex. Mainly pretty quiet and studious. Not much activity goes on here.
Marks Tower: Pretty good alternative. Depending on your year, some floors have reps for “raging”, haha. Bond pretty well with the people on your floor/building. Hall style
Parkside A&H, IRC: Different layouts. Suite Style (4 rooms to one suite). Very quiet area. Honestly, mostly studying. Perks of Parkside include: good food (Parkside Restaurant), and Air Conditioning. Different vibe than New/North, Birnkrant, and Pardee. More reserved people, but people who know how to have fun live there too.
Flour: Suite Style also. Males and Females evenly divided on the floors. Some athletes live there. VERY close to the Lyon Recreational Center. Disadvantage: pretty far from both dining halls. (get a bike). Overall a good balance between social and studious. People who live there now, love it.
Radisson: will not be a housing option.
Gateway: Apartments that lease by bed, right next to New/North on Figueroa. very nice complex with great amenities. CVS, Subway, Yogurtland, Freebird Burritos are right at your front door.
As you noted, that post was from 5 years ago when Marks was the Honors dorm and Birnkrant was open to everyone. These days, that has changed and likely so have the make-up of those two dorms.
Tip: It’s a good idea to sign up for Housing just as soon as you can, even if you are not 100% sure you’ll be attending USC. It gets you into a priority line for choice of housing (although if you don’t attend USC you forfeit the $45 fee). The trick is you can change your order of preference all the way up to May 1st so just put any dorm down now, and continue doing your research. For some of you who attend Admitted Student Day, I suggest you ask a current student what they think of the dorms. You’re much more likely to get unfiltered and current reviews and many times, the nice Trojan may invite you to see their room. 
Too bad there isn’t a Yelp for student housing.
I think the most relevant big change since that 2011 post is that Café 84 is now a freshman dining hall. Meaning Fluor and Webb now have a dining option right there, as opposed to previously where they had to go across campus to EVK or Parkside. Also, the Lyon center (gym) is right there as well.
@Hawkwings where did you live your freshmen year? where do most of the freshmen live besides new/north?
I lived in Pardee my freshman year.
There’s three main freshman dorm zones: Southside, Parkside, and north campus.
Southside (and I don’t know why it’s called this, it’s just what I remember from when I was there) is the dorms around McCarthy Quad. New/North, Pardee, Marks Tower/Hall, Trojan Hall, and Birnkrant. These are all pretty much traditional dorms, with two people per room (there are a few singles and a few special ones). The closest dining hall is EVK. Leavey Library is nearby, and it’s a popular place to study. This is the largest concentration of freshmen housing.
Parkside is, obviously, Parkside A&H and IRC. They are all suites, with a very few special exceptions. Parkside apartments is also part of this area. The closest dining hall is Parkside Restaurant. All the buildings nearby are class buildings, labs, offices, etc, so “doing” anything you’ll have to go to another part of campus. Of course there are plenty of things going on in and around Parkside. This is probably the second largest concentration of freshmen on campus.
North campus consists of Webb, Fluor, and I guess CarGar since they turned it into freshman housing. Webb and CarGar are apartments, Fluor is suites (and mostly athletes or so I’ve heard). The closest dining hall is Café 84. The Lyon Center (gym) is nearby, and the UV (RIP) is across the street, though I guess right now it’s all a big construction area. This is probably the smallest pod of freshmen housing.
@Hawkwings thanks for your insight! do you know anything about Webb? and was not having any AC in pardee ok, or was it annoying at times?
No A/C in Pardee was bearable. When it’s hot you can get a fan or just hang out in air conditioned buildings until later when it cools down. Really it was only bad for the first few weeks of school. However, the southwest-facing side gets afternoon sun which is brutal when it’s hot.
I lived in Webb junior year for a semester, it is in my opinion absolutely the best place to live on campus. It’s an apartment, 4 people max, a real, in a nice new-ish building. I was up on the 12th floor (I think, can’t remember for sure) facing south, so I got an amazing view of the football practice field, the pool, and the rest of campus.
It’s not as social as other places, but that’s alright since the party will be at your place. I mean, having an actual living room and kitchen is much more conducive to hosting than… in a dorm room? and hallway? haha please.
I’m not sure how the food is at Café 84, since when I lived there it was a restaurant for everyone but they now turned it into a freshman dining hall. I’m sure it’s not bad though.
I would guess that it will feel a lot less “freshman-y” there, but as in any case your experience may vary. One thing to remember is that this is right by a major intersection onto and off campus, as well as it’s right next to the gym, so once you step outside there will be tons of people of all years going on and off campus and to the gym.
One tip: my favorite place to get breakfast to go is a nearby food truck called Armando’s. It parks on Jefferson, just west of McClintock, on the south side of the street. They sell breakfast sandwiches and burritos and it’s cheap and amazing!
@Hawkwings sorry, which dorms would the southwest facing side be? I’ve been to the campus but i haven’t toured the dorms, so that’s why i have a lot of questions regarding the dorms. and from what you’ve said, the dorms w/o AC like new/north and pardee are where most freshmen go? i’m just confused because i want a nice dorm room with the “real” freshmen experience, but i heard that the dorms that i want aren’t as social. sorry for all the questions!
I don’t want to keep pushing Parkside, but I do want to be sure you all understand that Parkside A&H (Arts and Humanities) couldn’t be more different than Parkside IRH. Parkside IRH is International, married folks, very quiet, isolated with little English heard there. Not the right match for many freshman.
Parkside Arts and Humanities is tons of freshman from various majors - STEM to business to Arts, matched well with room mates if you fill out your survey honestly. Newer with AC. But is is on a different part of campus than the other housing.
There are a ton of great options - I don’t believe anyone will be disappointed!
By facing southwest, I mean one side of Pardee. One side of the building has rooms with windows that face southwest, and the other side of the building has rooms with windows facing northeast.
The “real” freshman experience doesn’t exist. The real freshman experience is exactly what you experience, and will be different from what your friend experiences, or what you hear other people experience, etc. Don’t worry so much about it. You can be in a “social dorm” that doesn’t quite live up to expectations or has people that you can’t stand, or you could be in a “quiet dorm” with a great group of friends that get along really well, or somewhere in between, or you may not even spend time in your dorm. I barely met the people in the rooms around me because I was out with people I met in class, or in clubs, etc.
Seriously, the advice I would give to all freshmen worried about social experience is chill out. It’ll be just fine. You’ll have a lot more fun if you’re not worried about impressing people you meet or trying to be bestest best friends on day 1. Everyone is going through the same thing as you are, so you’ve already got that shared connection.
Best dorms for first year undergraduate School of Cinema Arts students?
I just want to chime on on Parkside area. There are three buildings. International Residential College (IRC) and Arts & Humanities (A&H) are freshman only buildings. They are suite style. IRC isn’t an international building though international students do live there as they live everywhere at USC. There are no married students in these buildings.
Parkside Apartments is mostly upperclassmen.
The dorms are dorms. New/North is the loudest and has coed floors. Pardee has the biggest rooms, Trojan can be loud since half of it faces Figueroa Street. These are also the oldest buildings built in the 50s and 60s except for Pardee which was built in the 80s.
Webb is an apartment building mostly Freshmen but with some upperclassmen in the upper floors. Fluor is suite style. CarGar is an apartment complex and mostly upperclassmen but some freshmen live there. It’s the only building that is off campus so no full meal plan and no fingerprint scanning.